EU court backs Dublin Airport’s 32 million passenger cap in landmark ruling

That capacity is dictated by a 2007 planning decision issued by An Bord Pleanála, which said Dublin Airport’s operations must not exceed 32 million passengers annually. File picture

Ireland’s aviation regulator has the power to limit the number of flights to and from Dublin Airport to accommodate a maximum of 32 million passengers a year, a landmark judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) says.

In its long-awaited ruling on the controversial Dublin Airport passenger cap on Thursday morning, the CJEU said the airline slots allocated by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) “must reflect, in operational terms, all the capacity that is actually available at a coordinated airport”.

“The Court concludes that such a limit must be taken into account when determining the coordination parameters,” the judgment said.

That capacity is dictated by a 2007 planning decision issued by An Bord Pleanála, which said Dublin Airport’s operations must not exceed 32 million passengers annually.

The ruling is a significant blow to a challenge brought by airport operator Daa against the cap in 2024.

Daa, along with several airlines, including Ryanair, had challenged the legitimacy of the cap in the High Court, which subsequently referred the question of whether the passenger cap needed to be considered when allocating slots to the CJEU.

The CJEU decision further states that an airline’s historical access to airport slots does not guarantee that those slots will be available to it in the future.

“The taking into account of a passenger limit may exceptionally result in some series of historic slots, or components thereof, not being reallocated to airlines which would otherwise in principle be entitled to them,” the court said.

The decision will now be referred back to the High Court, which will use it as guidance when reaching its own decision on the matter.

Both Daa and the Department of Transport have been contacted for comment.

Residents welcome cap ruling

The local St Margaret’s/The Ward residents’ grouping, a long-time supporter of the 32 million passenger cap, said it welcomed the ruling, asserting that “planning limits at Dublin Airport can no longer be ignored”.

“The Court confirms the Advocate General's opinion that the 32 million passenger cap at Dublin Airport is a constraint the Irish Aviation Authority can and must take into account when setting slot parameters,” the group said in a statement.

“This judgment vindicates what residents have been saying for years. The planning conditions attached to Dublin Airport were not optional. They were put in place to protect the communities and the environment around the airport. Yet for years they were treated as an inconvenience to be set aside, and the airport was allowed to grow well beyond what it was permitted to,” it said.

The residents called on the Government “to respect the spirit of today’s ruling”.

Government legislation seeks to scrap 32 million passenger cap

Transport minister Darragh O’Brien is currently bringing legislation to the Oireachtas seeking to scrap the 32 million passenger cap, which business leaders and other stakeholders see as detrimental to the airport’s ability to operate at full capacity.

St Margaret’s/The Ward (SMTW) described the legislation as “an Irish solution to an Irish problem”.

“The Government is legislating to fix a problem that exists only because one State authority ignored the constraints put in place by another,” the group said.